They skulk in, alone or dragged by their wives or girlfriends - follicularly endowed fellows seeking a drastic solution to their body hair hang-ups: waxing.

"They're somewhat scared and kind of shy because it's new to them," says Hector Peña, general manager of Manhattan's Nickel. The spa for men has seen a surge over the past two years in the number of clients willing to subject their skin to those strips of white muslin all in the name of confidence - on the beach and in bed.

Backs, shoulders, chests, brows and (gulp) nethers are increasingly fair game for de-furring. (Or "manscaping," as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Fab Five call it.) Forget the tufted torsos epitomized by heretofore hunks like Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck - they've gone the way of the gold medallion necklace.

Hollywood is taking a hard line against hairiness this year. Consider Hitch's Will Smith, who counsels Kevin James that dating success is as dependent on a fuzz-free back as dancing skills. In My Date with Drew, Brian Herzlinger sees his Chia chest as an impediment to snagging a snuggle session with Drew Barrymore. (Maybe he shouldn't have worried: Barrymore revealed her hirsute armpits at Marc Jacobs' February show, to much clucking from the follicle-phobic fashion flock.)

And then there's The 40-Year-Old Virgin's Steve Carell, who, in the summer's most painfully memorable scene, has ape-ish abs reduced to what Paul Rudd dubs a "man-o-lantern." (Carell, who really did go under the wax-smeared spatula, aborts the procedure after a few patches are yanked off.)

Having too much body hair is akin to having too little head hair, says Stan Williams, fashion and grooming director of Maxim magazine. "A lot of guys are concerned about it, but it's not something you really talk about."

At Nickel, where waxing is the most popular treatment, 60% of the appointments are made by women on behalf of their husbands or boyfriends. Customers range from twentysomethings to fifty-somethings, Wall Street types to truckers. "Girls inquire all the time, 'What do I need to do to get him to come in there?' " says Peña, who began turning his unibrow into two on the advice of a girlfriend.

Not all men are convinced. "Chest hair is back, like fanny packs and aviators," says Jonah Enbar, 20, a rising senior at Northwestern University. "I want it to grow." Body hair "makes you a man. It's a maturity thing," says Bates College senior Chris Robinson, 21. "I bet it would be ridiculously painful" to take off. But he could be persuaded: "If a girl asked me, yeah, I would do it."

USA TODAY Wed Aug 24, 2005